This invention relates to new flame-retarded transparent plastics. More specifically, the invention relates to the use of polyhalogenated trimethylphenyl indanes in certain polymeric matrices to obtain transparent plastic compositions.
Flame retardants (FR) are the most important family of plastic additives. Synthetic polymers and copolymers are often compounded with flame retardant compounds (FR) in order to improve their FR properties. Typical FRs comprise inorganic and organic compounds, particularly aromatic compounds. Halogenated compounds are the most effective, and bromine is often the preferred halogen. The addition of FR compounds also affects the mechanical properties of the plastic material, often negatively.
European Patent No. 571036, the description of which is incorporated herein by reference, claims thermally stable flame retardants which also impart good impact properties. The flame retardants of said application are additives of polyhalogenated trimethylphenyl indanes.
The preparation of 1,1,5-trimethyl-3-phenyl indan (TMPI) is disclosed in DE 2,906,294, DE 2,659,597 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,161,692.
Providing flame retarded, transparent plastic materials is an important goal. However, most FR materials available in the art present severe drawbacks. For instance, some of them are based on brominated diphenyloxide nuclei (such as, decabromodiphenyl oxide). Other FR compounds cannot be incorporated in sufficient amounts in transparent polymeric matrices without severely affecting the transparency of the resulting composition. The combination of FR compound and transparent polymeric matrix is critical for providing transparent flame retarded compositions. Thus U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,021 discloses that a combination of polycarbonate matrix with pentabromobenzylmonoacrylate provides transparent plastic material, but combinations of the same polycarbonate matrix with pentabromobenzylpolyacrylate or with brominated polystyrene do not.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide transparent, flame retarded, plastic materials comprising transparent polymeric matrices and FR additives.
It is another object to provide such transparent, flame retarded, plastic materials wherein the FR additives overcome the aforesaid drawbacks of prior art additives.
It is a further object of the invention to provide transparent FR thermoplastic compositions containing a very high (greater than 15% by weight) load of FR material. Such compositions are useful in a variety of applications, as will be further described below.
The invention is directed to flame-retarded transparent plastic compositions comprising polyhalogenated trimethylphenyl indan. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, polyhalogenated trimethylphenyl indanes having each 3 to 9 halogen atoms are utilized. Also according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the number of halogen atoms of at least a part of the polyhalogentated trimethylphenyl indan in the mixture is 7 or 8, and the halogen is bromine. Illustrative examples of such polyhalogentated trimethylphenyl indanes are a mixture of hexa-, hepta-, and octabromotrimethylphenyl indan, which mixture is also known as FR-1808 ex Bromine Compounds Ltd.
The halogen can be bromine, or a mixture of bromine and chlorine.
The plastic matrix of the materials that are flame retarded by polyhalogenated trimethylphenyl indan is critical to obtain a transparent final plastic composition. According to the invention, said plastic matrix is chosen from the group consisting of polycarbonate, polymethylmethacrylate, and polystyrene.
The amount of polyhalogenated trimethylphenyl indan which can be present in the plastic material varies with the intended use. For instance, for rendering transparent plastic materials flame-retarded, with acceptable impact strength of the resulting products, total contents of up to about 8% are usually preferred. For other uses, such as for the manufacturing of transparent elements such as lens, light guides, optical fibers and compact disks, having a high refractive index, much higher contents, up to about 40% by weight, are needed, preferably in an amount of up to about 15% by weight.
Throughout this specification, unless specifically otherwise stated, all percentages are by weight.
The invention is also directed to a method for the preparation of transparent, plastic, flame-retarded material comprising mixing the aforesaid polymeric matrices with a flame-retardant effective amount of a polyhalogenated trimethylphenyl indan. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the polyhalogenated trimethylphenyl indan is a mixture of brominated derivatives containing 70-75% bromine.
The invention also encompasses the use of polyhalogenated trimethylphenyl indanes in the preparation of transparent plastic materials having a higher refractive index from a polymeric matrix chosen from the group consisting of polycarbonate, polymethylmethacrylate and polystyrene. The mixture of brominated derivatives containing 70-75% bromine, such as FR-1808, is a particularly suitable compound for this purpose, since it permits to provide very high percentages of bromine in the plastic composition, which is needed in order to obtain high refractive indexes. Contents of FR-1808 as high as 40% are easily obtained, with only minor yellowing of the plastic composition, while maintaining complete transparency. These amounts are outstanding, in view of the know art which typically incorporates amounts not higher than 15%. Other additives can also be present, as long as they are not such as to affect the transparency of the flame retarded material.
All the above and other characteristics and advantages of the invention will be better understood through the following illustrative and non-limiting examples of preferred embodiments.